Maya Bay, the beach from the film The Beach, and diving in Hin

You saw the movie The beach with Leonardo Di Caprio and Virginie Ledoyen? Yes, it's there... Maya Bay, on Koh Phi Phi Leh, in the south of Thailand.

Maya Bay, the beach neither deserted nor secret

Needless to say, once you arrive on the island, it's not at all like in the film: Maya Bay beach is easily accessible and not at all deserted, especially in January. It's high tourist season!

Update 2011 : I returned to Koh Phi Phi in 2011, four years after this post was published, and unfortunately nothing has changed at Maya Bay. The place is certainly still beautiful, but in terms of tourist numbers, it is perhaps even worse than in 2007... See my new photos in this article ➜ Phi Phi Leh, the beautiful island

Update 2022: Maya Bay, suffocated by overtourism, was closed in 2018 by the Thai authoritiesThe explosion in tourism from China, in particular, which now accounts for almost a third of visitors to Thailand, has not helped matters. Thailand was planning to reopen Maya Bay in 2021, but it will now be 1^er January 2022by limiting the number of people. To protect ecosystems, quotas are effective, we saw it in Sipadan in Malaysia. Quite a good initiative, then.

In fact, two to three months after Maya Bay was closed, the sharks returned: "We've gone from 5,000 tourists to about 60 sharks." sums up a Thai marine biologist, specialist of the issue, interviewed in a report for Correspondent on France 2. The association Ocean Quest has begun replanting coral "cuttings" in the area. by fixing them to the glue, with success.

But well... I have to admit it, the white sand and the turquoise waters (if you frame well to avoid having too many people on the picture) always make their little effect !!!

Yesterday, we spent the day on a boat, to go around the beaches and nearby islands. At each stop, we splashed in the water with mask and snorkel or went for a kayak ride!

Pure tourist idleness in the sunshine. Life under Thai coconut palms is just too hard! 😎

Diving in Hin Daeng and Hin Muang

Today, we're diving again, this time at the renowned sites of Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, an hour and a half speed-boat ride from Koh Phi Phi.

We were hoping to see some manta rays, which can be seen in the area at this time of year, but no such luck. They didn't deign to cross our path underwater... Too bad! The underwater fauna remains abundant and spectacular.

A big fat moray stoically supported the light of my flash for a tight portrait. The moray eels are very nice critters, finally, despite their patibular appearance ...

😉